I found this revealing school schedule lesson plan at http://www.germany.info/ and there is a close link to my last blog photo - incidentally it shows the mail slots in a typical teachers lounge....do you see the similarities? The present school system breeds fragmention and "encourages" separation not deliberately but it "splits" and "divides" nevertheless and it does so in a 45 minutes rythm.
I have two DVDs in my shelf that show film clips of those few schools which have successfully overcome the negative consequences that are inherent in the box-like structure.The more far reaching one is called: Treibhäuser der Zukunft - or Incubators of the Future. It can be ordered at: http://www.archiv-der-zukunft.de/ . The other one stays closer to the existing framework of the present school policies of our State North-Rhine Westphalia and it has the defensive title of: It can be done ( ....inspite of the system's flaws ) - the italics are mine. It can be obtained free of charge at: http://www.selbststaendige-schule.de/ It has just been released and it provides very accurate background information about various types of schools and subjects. Both films make the learners, the teachers and the principals look human and very likable.
My prediction is that one far day the teachers themselves will use - or have to use - their own power in order to help create the kind of schools where not only the kids,the parents and the teachers want to belong but the sponsoring (business) community as well. These new schools will invent their own underlying structure which will then be free of the confining box structure ( see both photos ) - to make life enhancing learning and "thinking outside of the box" a common normality.
